Call for contributions- Report on maternal mortality and morbidity

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presents its compliments to all Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations at Geneva and has the honour to refer to Resolution 33/18 entitled “Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights” adopted by the Human Rights Council on 30 September 2016. This resolution urged “all States to renew their political commitment to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity at the local, national, regional and international levels” and “to take action at all levels, utilizing a comprehensive human rights-based approach, to address the interlinked root causes of maternal mortality and morbidity.” It further called on States to “strengthen their efforts to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, including through, inter alia, the application of the technical guidance [A/HRC/21/22], as appropriate, when designing, implementing and reviewing policies and evaluating programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity,” Finally, it requested the High Commissioner to prepare a report on “good practices and challenges in the application of a human rights-based approach to the elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, including through the utilization of the technical guidance,” to be presented to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-ninth session.

In this context, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would like to request information on how your Government or organization has disseminated and applied the technical guidance. In particular, information on the following would be welcome:

What steps has your Government or organization taken to utilize a human-rights based approach in policies and programmes to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity? How has the technical guidance assisted your Government or organization in designing, implementing, revising and/or evaluating such policies and programmes?

Has the technical guidance assisted your Government or organization in building enhanced understanding of the requirements of a human rights-based approach? If so, please expand upon the impact that such enhanced understanding has for the design and implementation of policies and programmes in this area.

What challenges does your Government or organization face in implementing a human rights based approach in policies and programmes to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and morbidity? Please elaborate on the nature of these challenges and steps taken to address them.

With evidence indicating that a majority of maternal deaths occur in fragile and humanitarian settings and that pregnant women may have increased medical risks in crises settings, how does your Government or organization work to apply a human rights based approach to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in these contexts? Please elaborate on good practices and challenges in this regard.

Does your Government or organization regularly collect data on sexual and reproductive health in crisis settings? Please elaborate on good practices and challenges in this regard.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would be grateful if submissions could be limited to five pages and sent to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (United Nations Office at Geneva, CH 1211 Geneva 10; Fax. +41 22 917 90 08; Email: registry@ohchr.org) by 1 February 2018.

Please indicate whether the information provided can be made available on the OHCHR website. Any enquiries may be made to Lucinda O’Hanlon at lohanlon@ohchr.org, telephone: +41-229289152 or Ruben Brouwer at rbrouwer@ohchr.org, telephone: +41-229171156.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva the assurances of its highest consideration.